Ken Wilber originally wrote this at 23, which shows how sharp this dude really is. It's a textbook
on spiral dynamics cleverly disguised as a discussion between green meme baby boomers and some
genexers on how to reach the second tier memes of yellow and turquoise, and eventually the transpersonal realms.

"Boomeritis" is Wilber's term for the pathological destructiveness of the mean green meme, it's suicidal inclinations to destroy the established blue and orange memes in an effort to promote it's own agenda of multiculturalism, postmodernism, deconstructionism, feminism and ecology.

This book is helping me at least to see the hierarchy of memes and the second tier, and how a green memer can deprogram from "Boomeritis" and it's devastating and destructive influence.

spiral_dynamics_a_la_wilber.org

Here are a couple of links to many sidebars about Boomeritis from Shambala:

http://wilber.shambala.com/htm...erview_bms_kk_1.cfm/

http://www.shambala.com/html/c...bn/1-59030-008-4.cfm

Very cool! Thanks. The URLs above didn't work, however.

I like Wilber's ideas on boomeritis. They're not shared among those who teach Spiral Dynamics, however, as many of them don't believe there's any such thing as a "mean green meme." Don Beck seemed to consider the phenomena real enough, however.

Here's a good review of the book.
- http://www.wie.org/j22/debold.asp

Both of MM�s links will work if you change the spelling to �shambhala�.

From Phil�s link:

quote:

The utter perniciousness of boomer narcissism lies in its insidious sophistication�and the fact that right beyond it lies the possibility of a radically different relationship to life that is not driven by physical or psychological survival fears. Taking this leap will give us a new way to respond to the persistent problems that have plagued humanity and have brought us to the edge of destruction�the degradation of the biosphere, incessant warring between different human tribes, overpopulation, and starvation, to name a few. In the brilliant light of what is possible, boomeritis is aggressively anti-evolutionary.

I�m trying to imagine a human being who is not driven by physical or psychological survival fears. Oh, maybe in UTOPIA this is possible.

According to Wilber, "Boomeritis is simply pluralism infected with narcissism."

No. It�s pluralism infected with Marxism. There�s nothing wrong with wanting to live and let live, with trying to find joy and interest in true diversity. But that has been simply a smokescreen in far to many cases for a more punitive agenda which holds capitalism, democracy and western civilization to blame for shamelessly and selfishly delaying the arrival of utopia. Yes, there is narcissism mixed up in all this, but narcissism could just as easily be expressed through entrepreneurism as through Marxism or socialism. It�s not just one�s wishes that defines one. It is one�s dislikes�perhaps especially one�s dislikes.

http://wilber.shambhala.com/ht...erview_bms_kk_1.cfm/

http://www.shambhala.com/html/...bn/1-59030-008-4.cfm

Will they still let me into the halls of Shambhala
if I misspell it?

From the first link:

I think it's a really exciting time to be doing this type of theoretical research, as long as it complements, and doesn't replace, actual spiritual practice. As you know, my work is basically a call to practice, not a substitute for practice. . .

Ahem . . . cough cough . . . harrumph!

Like I said . . .

Let's hear it for the evangelist of Vedanta!

From 1969-1974, nobody had more Top 10 hits, moved more records, or sold more concert tickets than Three Dog Night. During this period, they were undoubtedly the most popular band in America: twenty-one consecutive Top 40 hits, eighteen straight Top 20s, eleven Top 10s, seven number 1s, seven million-selling singles and twelve straight gold LPs. By late '75, they had sold nearly 50 million records. The band was unique for it's time, featuring three separate lead singers, Danny Hutton, Chuck Negron and Cory Wells.

Shambala
Three Dog Night

Wash away my troubles, wash away my pain
With the rain in Shambala
Wash away my sorrow, wash away my shame
With the rain in Shambala

(chorus)
Ah, ooh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Everyone is helpful, everyone is kind
On the road to Shambala
Everyone is lucky, everyone is so kind
On the road to Shambala

(repeat chorus)

How does your light shine, in the halls of Shambala

I can tell my sister by the flowers in her eyes
On the road to Shambala
I can tell my brother by the flowers in his eyes
On the road to Shambala

(repeat chorus)

How does your light shine, in the halls of Shambala

Three Dog Night. That takes me back. I think I just came down with a case of Boomeritis, although technically I�m not a boomer. I�m not even a Generation Xer or Yer, I don�t think. I�m not the "me" generation. I�m not the "us" generation. I might not even be the Pepsi Generation, although I�m not sure of that either. But I�m pretty sure I�m the Police generation as in�

Born in the 50�s

quote:

Oh we hated our Aunts
Then we messed in our pants
Then we lost our faith and prayed to the TV
Oh we should've known better

Whatever happened to Three Dog Night?

A Rock&Roller freind of mine said that they went into a sea of China White and all wound up in rehab.

Still, quite a record, right up there with the Fab Four and CCR...

But I digress. Wilbur says that Boomeritis may not disappear until the boomers do, unless they make this late life jump to the yellow meme, which could cause greater social change than anything we saw in the 60s, since yellow consciousness is far more efficient than green and Boomers have a great deal of money and influence today.

Another source of change is the ever-growing green meme, which Wilber predicts will likely double to 40% of Americans,or about 100 million adults.

This will likely stoke the fires of blue reaction.
We could see many Ann Coulters, Dittoheads, Falwells and Savages with large followings.

Blood in the streets? Well maybe, if Wilbur is right about those who believe they are at green, but in reality are infected with angry red narcissism. Ward Churchill mutants of the future,
UNITE!

spiralingoutofcontrol.com

Those are great observations, MM (and thanks for the memories, Brad).

Boomeritis = Mean Green Meme a la Spiral Dynamics. Of course, there are also a lot of Boomers who came to enjoy the benefits of Orange, then who recognized how incomplete their Blue development was. Beck spoke of some people having to go back and do more work in the earlier levels, and we do see this happening all over. This is to be expected when one's education system teaches a Green worldview to a population that hasn't necessarily even come modify Red tendencies with Blue development, then appreciate the gifts brought to the world by Orange.

It really does seem that Green values can be held in a kind of Blue way -- as dogma, if you will. I think that's part of boomeritis as well.

But I digress. Wilbur says that Boomeritis may not disappear until the boomers do, unless they make this late life jump to the yellow meme, which could cause greater social change than anything we saw in the 60s, since yellow consciousness is far more efficient than green and Boomers have a great deal of money and influence today.

I think the roots of this go to humility�or the lack of same. We do not, of course, want (and least I don't want) to propagate a generation of sheep who will unquestionably do our bidding and carry on our traditions. This would be wrong, not only because not all of our traditions are so perfect, but because the very meme of the world itself is growth and change. Even though the establishment will, and often can, hold out against change, youth is inherently oriented toward stirring the pot so we have a built-in mechanism for change. But change is unpredictable. It can be destructive as well and constructive and, frankly, we often can't tell the difference between the two until years later. But it is a dynamic and dangerous process, one that becomes violently destructive without a large infusion of both wisdom and humility. Unfortunately in our materialistic- and consumer-oriented society "out with the old, in with the new" has become a deeply-embedded second nature. All of our goods, and even most of our services, change so radically from year to year. The new replaces the old, often because it is better, but also simply because of our desire for novelty and because we now associate so much of our ego with our possessions. Thus, with this backdrop, it was only a matter of time until Boomeritus, postmodernism, or some other ism starting trashing the old simply because it was old, not that it had outlived its usefulness. And that, I think, is why Boomeritus isn't likely to disappear anytime soon.

We could see many Ann Coulters, Dittoheads, Falwells and Savages with large followings.

I do think this is one reason Rush Limbaugh, and conservative talk radio in general, has been so successful. They do not CREATE the need. They are fulfilling it. There is just so much bs out there in terms of leftist agendas. Any, and I do mean, ANY halfway thoughtful westerner can see the bs that is trying to be thrust upon us and not everyone is so gullible, so lacking in self-confidence, or so full of self-hate that they will readily and easily give up their own sense of common sense to, say, people like Hillary Clinton. And that is a good thing, although, of course, the cultural elites (at least the ones on the left) are so zealous in their desire to create utopia that even Midwestern common sense is demonized through their bs filters as "red necks with shot guns and chewing tobacco and who have horns on the front of their cars".

MM, I agree that Ken Wilber is a brilliant philosopher with quite a following. I have much compassion for him, for he did lose a wife to cancer. He really is not such a happy man, and faces trials and tribulations like all of us.

MM,
I've been interested in buying it, but generally feel disheartened by Wilber. I feel that he's a pretty ambitious guy and as many of his critics have stated point blank, he had reduced a lot of the best Western philosophy--squeezed it into his paradigm. His paradigm doesn't really have a force for me either. Ie. It doesn't seem to open up to Grace.

I was however interested in his novel; I wanted to see what he could do with narrative. If he could get beyond some of his more sappy writing (often his prose IS purple, I swear.)

But do tell me about his novel. Is it any good?

Asher

Please pray for Ken Wilber. He needs a Savior. Can you imagine how many Tibetan Buddhists he could bring with him? May his eyes be opened!

This is the book which finally drove Boomeritis ( the MEAN and oppressive green meme ) into my consciousness. I hope the green meme won't hand the west to the terrorists and lock Christians behind bars, but it will no doubt attempt this. It's kind of lemming like in it's self destructiveness.

BTW, I heard that lemmings don't really do that, and Wilber might be wrong as well, so who knows for sure.

Anyway, I'm loaning it to green meme Boomers...

Wilber writes from the point of view of a twenty-year-old male, who typically thinks about sex every ten minutes. (I must be younger than I thought,) so, in bold print every ten minutes of reading time, you get Wilberian erotica, which evolves into more tantric themes as the book moves along. It's not really graphic, but may offend some readers. (Rated "R for adult content, etc.)

---------------------------------------------------

Here's a wiki article on memetics:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meme

And some Dawkins:

http://www.rubinghscience.org/...cs/dawkinsmemes.html

Ken Wilber is battling a rare disease.

http://www.integralworld.net/redd.html

His consciousness does dwell too often in the sexual arena, which makes me wonder if it is a cover for his fear of love and true intimacy. I went to his site only once and was totally turned of by what was discussed, never to return. He may be an adept or expert on Tantra, but this does not mean that he can surrender to love. He needs to get more in touch within the heart of God, and drop some of his inapproriate vulgar words. He has so much more to offer. Dwell more on the simple things of great joy in life, Ken.

What touched me about his article is the one expression in it quote" my mind intersects God's way now and then, and the angels weep". I do too Ken.

Should you read this Ken, contact me on Shalom Place. I am a healing practitioner, and may consider taking you on as a client. Hope you are doing better Ken. Blessings.

MM,
Are you interested in memetics. I was thinking of doing an MA on it, but have found that most of the scientific community has answered to it in detail and dismisses it for the most part. This, by no means, makes it off. But I think Dawkins himself suggests that people have taken the original thesis of his book (which I haven't read) and twisted it.

Sorry to hear about Ken Wilber. I shouldn't be so hard on him, I suppose; I should probably read more of him to figure out the source of my contentions.

I'm not all that interested in mean green meme. After our discussion, I've seen it as a fact which I wrestle with every day. The thing is that humility is green and the only antidote:-)I was interested in what Wilber does with narrative; if he does anything new. If the prose is non-linear, postmodern etc.

In regards to sex well, I think about it often to, but think that sex is, for the most part, a regressive, but necessary facet of human existence. There are, of course, methods and means to work with it, outside the bedroom as you are probably well aware of. Which is why I think Siddhis and healing energy, Chi Kung and Reiki are around. They can be used as tools to deal with this pretty disgusting act. I know that sounds harsh, but that seems to be my feeling of sex devoid of love. In fact, even sex with love sometimes seems to me to be disguisting, to be quite frank.

quote:

Originally posted by Freebird:
[qb] Ken Wilber is battling a rare disease.

http://www.integralworld.net/redd.html [/qb]

I read the article. That's too bad! But I wonder what lessons such suffering will teach Wilber. Already, he notes:

sometimes i do well with it, sometimes not. much of the time i am fortunate, and there is radiant sahaj, with a painful body spontaneously arising in an ocean of blissful emptiness. at other times, there is just the painful body. in all cases, my I is free and radiant, but my me is ****ed, and it's just a matter of which side of the identity street you want to play on.

It's this "split" between "I" and "me" (and the body) that has always bothered me about Wilber, especially since he considers this "I" to be divine. I think the "me" (the Ego) is also real and needs to be integrated with the "I" in some manner -- or at least on friendly terms.

But my goodness, what an output of writing he describes! I have this image of a talking head, out of touch with love and feeling -- an intellecutal nuclear bomb, ever-ready to demolish the illusions of the less gifted.

Prayers indeed for Mr. Wilber.